Our Renew / Cancel Index predicts potential renewal or cancellation for scripted broadcast primetime shows by the end of the 2011-12 season in May, 2012. (includes results from January 2- April 22, 2012):

-
It's been months since I had Up All Night in the headline of an NBC Renew / Cancel post, and it's already had its season finale, so I'm playing a little catch up. After doing fine early, the show's ratings stumbled late, but with Whitney the only NBC rookie sitcom that's a likely renewal, UAN ratings make it no worse than a "toss up". Only a few more weeks (or less) until we find out for sure.

*shows no longer on the air have their Renew/Cancel Index "frozen" at the point they left the schedule.

Notes:

- certain to be cancelled by May, 2012

:cry:- more likely to be cancelled than renewed by May, 2012

- toss up between renewal or cancellation by May, 2012

- more likely to be renewed than cancelled by May, 2012

- certain to be renewed by May, 2012

The Renew/Cancel Index is the ratio of a scripted show's new episode adults 18-49 ratings relative to the new episode ratings of the other scripted shows on its own network. It's calculated by dividing a show's new episode Live+Same Day adults 18-49 average rating by the Live+Same Day new episode average of all the new scripted show episodes on the show's own network. The network's average ratings in the calculation are not time weighted (ex. hour long shows are not weighted twice what 30 minute shows are).

(F) -Fridays: Shows airing on Fridays were renewed with significantly lower than average Indexes.

If you find a bear laughing at your bingo square,
I wouldn’t dare, to poke it.
It will feast on its prey, right around May,
Til then it’s hearsay, and Bill Gorman knows it.
Your show better beware and have proper footwear
And say a little God’s prayer, to escape it.
It may sound cliché, to your dismay
But I like wordplay, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
It is rare, I will swear
That Chuck won’t be there, to evade it.

Bob

For the record, I am in the so called precious group that advitisers love. Big deal….I still love Harry’s Law, 60 minutes (sometimes), and many other high viewers low demographic. I can’t help it that some in my generation are stupid and don’t know what a good show is.

Fake Me Out

@chrisss

I agree w/comedies @ 8pm Friday for NBC, especially ones they are nursing along to the magic 88 or just padding the numbers. Followed by Grimm @ 9pm and Harry’s Law @ 10pm.

I don’t think this will be an earth shattering line-up but I do think it will make NBC very competitive on the night, give it some steady(ish) numbers and let them then look towards fixing the other nights that are broke … their way back will be fixing one show, one night at a time until they make enough to have laser surgery to remove that big red L tat on their foreheads.

YMMV

Help save Endgame and watch season 1 on Hulu

http://tvbythenumbers.com Bill Gorman

@ Bill Gorman:

“NBC is going to have 8 million unhappy viewers if they cancel Harry’s Law.”

That they will, but it’s all part of the business.

“Bill…do you think another network like AMC, FX, etc. would pick the show up if NBC (aka Kabletown) cancels it?”

Unlikely. It’s very hard to scaled broadcast costs down to cable, but not impossible. Harry’s Law does seem like something that would fit somewhat on TNT, which is part of the corporate Warner Brother’s family.

Fake Me Out

FWIW, I just saw that Whitney is picked up to be aired in the UK while UAN still has not been sold for UK broadcast … UAN did HORRENDOUS numbers here in Canada and that was in the 8:30 slot behind Big Bang that is frequently the #1 to #3 rated scripted show in these parts. I know the US 18~49 demo is the biggest factor, but these are a few smaller pieces of the puzzle that I think point towards 1 and done for UAN.

YMMV

Brian J

@chrisss:

I would hold both until midseason. Perhaps “Community” can still grow, but “30 Rock” is probably too old. But why waste a half hour or hour on them when that time could be devoted to a newer show?

@Bern:

I think–or maybe hope–that NBC rips apart its Thursday schedule by putting “Go On” and “Friday Night Dinner” as its anchors for the night. I like the shows that are there now, but they can be worked in once the network sees what is working and what isn’t working after the fall premieres.

Concerned Citizen

@Brian J

Exactly. That’s why I say there’s zero chance both Up All Night and Whitney get renewed, and why I’d cancel them both if I’m NBC. They’ve gone too many promising comedy pilots. Go On has already been given an order, and I imagine Friday Night Dinner and The New Normal are near locks, given the people behind them. That’s three right there, and with The Farm probably happening at some point at midseason, that’s four. And then they have plenty of other promising looking pilots like Happy Valley, Animal Kingdom, 1600 Penn, and more. All of these shows have potential to do better than either of the two shows in question here.

And order some episodes of Animal Kingdom for if/when one of the new comedies on Wednesday fail.

Bunny

NBC should get rid of Single-cam comedies and bring back Multi-cams..

tvfreak

Game time! With some changes: Votes are now to be done in +3 and -3 only. Also, if anyone new to the site or the game expresses interest in playing, they will first have to be vetted by me, as they must swear on their own graves not to cheat by shape-shifting multiple votes, or any other method (remember to wait 24 hours between votes), and pass a quick trivia test based on the remaining shows in the game. Trivia questions will be asked only on request.

And yes, I am serious about the “swear on their own graves” part. Really.

30 ROCK – 22
PARENTHOOD – 5
PARKS & RECREATION – 17

Rebecca

Okay, I think I’m vetted, so here’s my new vote:

30 ROCK – 22
PARENTHOOD – 2 (-3)
PARKS & RECREATION – 20 (+3)

Thought this was a good quote for the cancellation bear. Quote from The Office [3.16]:
Dwight: I saw “Wedding Crashers” accidentally. I bought a ticket for “Grizzly Man” and went into the wrong theater. After an hour, I figured I was in the wrong theater, but I kept waiting. Cause that’s the thing about bear attacks…they come when you least expect it.

Brian J

@Concerned Citizen:

I guess we are just viewing the situation in different ways. When I look at “Up All Night,” I see a comedy that is decent and still very young, so it could potentially grow into a hit. (To be fair, it could just as easily fail to catch on.) It’s hard to find a show that is well reviewed, but NBC has one in with this show. Given the fact that you could make a case for dumping its entire lineup outside of “The Voice” and “Sunday Night Football,” why wouldn’t they simply renew the show? As much as I would like the network to be so successful in the fall that it has no spot for its returning shows come midseason, it probably won’t be.

Budgets are finite, but at the same time, why not renew the show for at least 13 episodes? It’s not as if it has a whole lot to lose by doing so.

The End

@Bunny

Do you even understand about cams? Single or Multi? A lot of stuff you see on TV these days is Single cam.

Have you heard of Eureka? That super duper now expensive Science fiction show with decent special effects. That’s Single cam too, there are many others I can name examples of, that you see on various networks.

There isn’t that much benefit using Multi cam over Single for comedy shows.

Concerned Citizen

@Brian J

I haven’t really seen anything on Up All Night, so I can’t speak to it’s quality. But I just don’t see how it could do much better than it did. It had the best timeslot in NBC’s lineup, which it surely wouldn’t get again, and the viewership would probably only decrease with time even if it did keep the spot. With all of the promising sitcom pilots I mentioned, I just don’t see the justification for renewing it.

Though if they were going to renew either it or Whitney, I’d take Up All Night in a heartbeat, considering how godawful Whitney is (and my general abhorrence of multi-camera sitcoms).

Lenka

I can´t wait for NBC to renew Parenthood finally

30 ROCK – 21(-1)
PARENTHOOD – 5 (+3)
PARKS & RECREATION – 18 (-2)

Mike

Six Chevys and a Movie. Oh and more Ron Swanson please.

That is all.

Rebecca

@Lenka
First, before voting, ask @tvfreak to be vetted (he’ll ask a trivia question or something). Also, the way you voted isn’t how we’re voting now. On this thread it’ll just be +3 and -3.
————-
Please disregard the last vote.

Rebecca

Ron Swanson rocks. I’m saving two quote of his for accompanying future votes.

Kenny

Okay, NBC Whitney is almost certain to be renewed and Up All Night and Harry`s Law will be cancelled..if that`s the case…i`m with Bill Gorman i`m done..Whitney is totally UNWATCHABLE TV, UAN and Harry`s Law is good tv and NBC is just totally missing the boat, If that network spent the money promoting UAN that it did Whitney maybe it would be a bigger hit. PATHETIC!!!!!!!!

Kavyn

NBC imo has some of the better comedies. Community is one of my all-time favourite comedies, as well as The Office during its prime. I’m recently trying to get into Parks and Rec and I’m loving Amy’s character Leslie – She’s reminding me of a female Michael Scott.

I gave UAN a chance, and I do like the actors in it, but I can’t help but feel like this show’s a much lesser version of Raising Hope. I’m indifferent to its renewal or cancellation.

Rebecca

@Kavyn
I’m indifferent to UAN’s fate, too – I enjoyed it but it’s not on my top five list or anything for the season. Maya’s scenes were great, and it was nice to see “Earl” back on tv in a semi regular role for a while as her boyfriend Kevin. I liked UAN more than Whitney. And I like Parks & Rec more than all the NBC shows (Community tied with 30R on my unwritten “list”).
——–
30R has the chance now to have a good final season story for next season (assuming it gets one more season), with Liz going through with her long laid plans to adopt a child.